This report presents an overview of battery technology and charge control strategies commonly used instand-alone photovoltaic (PV) systems. This work is a compilation of information from several sources,including PV system design manuals, research reports, data from component manufacturers, and lessonslearned from hardware evaluations.Details are provided about the common types of flooded lead-acid, valve regulated lead-acid, and nickel-cadmium cells used in PV systems, including their design and construction, electrochemistry andoperational performance characteristics. Comparisons are given for various battery technologies, andconsiderations for battery subsystem design, auxiliary systems, maintenance and safety are discussed.Requirements for battery charge control in stand-alone PV systems are covered, including details about thevarious switching designs, algorithms, and operational characteristics. Daily operational profiles arepresented for different types of battery charge controllers, providing an in-depth look at how these controllersregulate and limit battery overcharge in PV systems.Most importantly, considerations are presented for properly selecting batteries and matching of the chargecontroller characteristics. Specific recommendations on voltage regulation set point for different chargecontrol algorithms and battery types are listed to aid system designers.